


Kyoutani Kentarou's Guide to Surviving an Alien Invasion

by preciouscrowchild



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Alien Invasion, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-14 04:17:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11200275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/preciouscrowchild/pseuds/preciouscrowchild
Summary: Aliens have invaded Earth. Unsurprisingly, society shut down almost immediately. Kentarou isn’t sure how the rest of the world looks, but warring gangs of human survivors roam the streets of Sendai. While the occupying aliens aren’t actively killing all humans, they also don’t seem to have plans to go anywhere or do anything to help keep things in check. In fact, Kentarou has suspicions that they don’t really care one way or another about humans at all.Unfortunately, this all happened on a school day. Kentarou’s little sister Yukiko (age 9) is top in her elementary school class...and of course Kentarou’s shitty luck means that her class happened to be on a field trip on the day of the invasion. Now Kentarou is on a mission to find and save his sister, but unfortunately that dumbass creampuff Yahaba keeps getting in his way. Even more unfortunately, the band of thugs Kentarou managed to get to help them somehow got the misinformation that he and Yahaba are some kind of romantic couple, and like hell is he going to risk his neck to dissuade them of that notion.An unconventional romance (if they don’t kill each other first) with a healthy dose of sci-fi shenanigans.





	1. How to end up fake-dating your worst enemy in the middle of an alien apocalypse

**Author's Note:**

> Hoo boy this is the first fic I've actually been brave enough to publish, so constructive comments are welcome. Or feel free to come talk to me about this story or anything else on [tumblr](https://preciouscrowchild.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> beta'd by the wonderful [TCG](http://archiveofourown.org/users/TCG/)

Kentarou felt his nails bite into his palms as he squeezed his hands into fists. He watched the road from his hiding place under a half-collapsed storefront. This was bullshit.

 

Before three weeks ago, he would have expected that if aliens did invade Japan (unlikely), that they would be the ‘kill all humans and terraform the Earth because they breathe sulfur dioxide’ variety, or perhaps the ‘take a few humans to study and then leave everyone else alone’ variety. Hell, even the ‘destroy the planet to make way for an intergalactic bypass’ variety. Not...whatever these things were. Definitely not the ‘show up and just hang out’ variety. And certainly not the ‘terrorize humanity enough for society to completely collapse in only a few days _while doing pretty much nothing’_ variety that Japan had apparently gotten saddled with.

 

Humans were dumb and these aliens were complete bullshit. Beyond their sheer size, they weren’t even that scary looking. Just squelching around on their weird...leg things and snuffling at the still-standing buildings, looking like huge octopus cats with too many colors and not enough spatial awareness.

 

He took a deep breath and sat up on the balls of his feet in a crouch, squeezing his fists harder. The sting of his nails in his palms was slowly fading into numbness. It would get dark soon. He wanted to be somewhere more secure when that happened. The three aliens on the other side of the road continued to do whatever it was they were doing. When one of them turned, it’s house-sized bulk easily obscured his view of the side street they had come from. Everything else was eerily silent. Next to him, Kimi perked her ears in clear anticipation. Her tail thumped twice against the concrete.

 

“Okay, girl,” Kentarou muttered under his breath, “let’s go.”

 

He sprang from his hiding place and began his planned sprint down the road to the next set of still mostly upright abandoned buildings, his dog close behind. He kept to the side of the road away from the aliens. They didn’t seem to care how close people got to them, but they were big and Kentarou didn’t fancy getting accidentally squashed by one.

 

He was almost there, just a few more steps and then he would be safely under the awning of  the storefront of what used to be a bakery, when something - no, someone - barrelled into his left side and knocked them both flat.

 

Kentarou wheezed as he tried to regain the breath that had been knocked out of him and calm down from the adrenaline spiking through his system enough to assess his situation and figure out if the person sprawled on top of him was a threat. Kimi was crouched next to him, whining lowly, her breath hot on the side of his face. He untangled his arm from the pile he and whoever this jerk was enough to reach out and ruffle the fur on her chest. Then he turned his attention back to his accoster.

 

“What _the fuck_.”

 

“You asshole, you nearly stole my hiding place! Also, do you even realize how stupid it is to just run by those things? They have like, poisonous barbs that they can shoot at close range! And they move really fast, and did you even bother to notice that one was about to step on you?”

 

Kentarou groaned. He recognized that entitled tone and the fluffy silvery hair, unfortunately. “‘M not stupid. I was being careful until you showed up. Get _off_ me,” he grouched.

 

Of course Yahaba, of all people, would show up on his way to find Yukiko and make sure she was okay. The one person who hated him more than anything for no good reason. His luck was the shittiest.

 

Yahaba shoved himself off of Kentarou’s chest, probably purposefully using that much elbow, and sat up. He ran a hand over his forehead, fixing his stupid puffy hair. “This spot’s mine. Go find somewhere else to hide from the gangs.”

 

Kentarou narrowed his eyes. “What gangs.” The question came out more like a growled statement. He knew about the gangs, obviously. You would have to be stupid not to. But he didn’t know about any in this part of town.

 

Yahaba continued to preen like some kind of spoiled housecat. He seemed like he was more concerned about the state of his hair than any potentially nearby dangers. “If you were at all observant, you would know that there are at least two different groups of thugs between here and school. I assume you at least realize that they are more of a danger than those things,” he gestured toward the aliens. Kentarou glowered at him. Of course he knew that. “I’m going to find my brother. You should go home, or wherever you were going. You probably don’t need to be that worried about the gangs, anyway; I’m sure they’d be happy to have a brute like you join their ranks.”

 

“Whatever,” Kentarou mumbled, getting to his feet. It felt like his ribs were bruised from Yahaba knocking into him. “Kimi, come.” He stalked off toward the next set of buildings, Kimi close on his heels, leaving stupid Yahaba and his stupid hair to keep the clearly superior hiding place. He would find somewhere else to spend the night.

 

\--

 

Somewhere else turned out to be what used to be a glasses shop, before the aliens. The front windows were broken, and the roof was half caved in. Luckily for Kentarou, though, the back room was still intact and, even better, the workers had clearly left in a hurry, leaving their unopened convenience store lunches behind. Store-bought onigiri was a pretty decent supper, all things considered. Kimi enthusiastically wolfed down the one he offered her. Kentarou was just as fast with his own.

 

The door to the back room was jammed open with debri from the collapsing roof, but it closed enough for Kentarou and Kimi to be well hidden from casual outside view. He settled against a shelf of boxes, with Kimi happily panting on her side next to him. He ran his right hand through her fur while he used his left to fish out his phone from his backpack and text his dad.

 

>> safe. dont forget to eat somethin today

 

Kentarou was sure he would see it, even if he wouldn’t respond. He turned off the phone to save its battery. Fifty five percent left. His dad wouldn’t text back and Yukiko was too young to have her own phone. No one else would bother contacting him. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Without a book to read, and in an unfamiliar and uncomfortable place, not to mention his newly bruised sides, he doubted he would get much rest. Stupid aliens ruining everything. Stupid entitled Yahaba and his stupid elbows. He was probably eating his fill of stale croissants and sleeping comfortably in that bakery’s kitchen, using some aprons as blankets.

 

That image made Kentarou huff out a laugh, although he kept his eyes closed. “This is fine for us, huh Kimi? Wouldn’t want to share with that dumbass creampuff, anyway.” He dug his fingers deeper into her fur. “Goodnight, girl.”

 

Her tail thumped happily against his leg as he tried to get comfortable in the small space.

 

\--

 

Kentarou was jolted awake by Kimi barking. The storage closet space was filled with flashing colors. Lots of colors, like he was being surrounded by a very persistent, angry rainbow. There was a painful crick in his neck from sleeping in such an awkward position. He let out a low groan.

 

Turning his whole body back and forth to avoid moving his neck, he spent a moment trying to figure out what his dog was barking at before his brain finally caught up to his eyes and he realized there were several of the stupid aliens right outside the fallen-in storefront, only a few meters from his hiding place.

 

He groaned again and grabbed Kimi’s collar. “Shhh, shhh. Kimi, it’s okay. They’re just talkin’ or something. If you keep barking someone will figure out where we are.” She let out one more _woof_ before hunkering down with her ears pulled back.

 

Now that she was thankfully quieter and he knew where the flashing colors were coming from, he could also make out the weird clicks and grrrs that accompanied the aliens’ stupid color language. Most of it was outside the range of human hearing, but Kimi could probably hear more of it.

 

Kentarou didn’t know how long he had slept, and he didn’t want to waste precious phone battery to check the time. It didn’t really matter, anyway. He was awake and full of adrenaline now, and unfortunately he had never been that great at falling back asleep after he was woken up, even before all this apocalypse bullshit. It wasn’t like he would be able to get anymore sleep in his current hiding place anyway, with all the flashing colors and Kimi on high-alert.

 

He pulled himself into a low crouch. Keeping his right hand firmly on Kimi’s back, he peered around the jammed door, looking for the safest path away. He didn’t want to stay where he was and risk one of them squashing the building with them still in it. There were three aliens on the far side of the road, coming closer to his hiding spot and blocking the way completely, and only one in the direction they had come that afternoon. That meant it made the most sense to go back towards the bakery and find a different route toward the Daikannon Statue, where Yukiko’s class had been the day of the attack. He sighed; there hadn’t really been any worthwhile hiding places between the bakery and glasses shop, plus he didn’t know if Yahaba would still be there.

 

Still in a crouch, Kentarou pulled his backpack on and took a steadying breath, inching slowly towards the storefront, pulling Kimi with him.

 

When they reached the doorway, the road back towards the bakery was still clear. Kentarou took one more breath, then muttered, “Let’s go, girl” before springing into a run, Kimi close on his heals.

 

They sprinted past the lone alien by the side of the shop, passing only a meter or so from one of its leg-like appendages. The thing was as big around as a yakusugi. That close, Kentarou could smell its bitter, tangy alien odor. He wasn’t particularly worried about the possibility of poison barbs. After all, he hadn’t ever seen one of them do that. Yahaba was just paranoid. Probably. Besides, the thing seemed focused on snuffling at an overturned car.

 

It felt good to run, to put all of his fear and anger into making his body move, to be in control of something.  He was several meters down the street and away from the alien, but he kept running, only barely slowing from his all-out sprint. Kimi happily kept pace.

 

In what felt like no time at all, he was back in front of the bakery. Part of him wanted to just keep running, past the bakery and back towards his ruined neighborhood, then all the way to the sea. To run until he collapsed and passed out and woke up in a world that hadn’t gone to shit.

 

But, contrary to what was apparently popular opinion, Kentarou was not stupid. He was decent in school, not that anyone believed that, and he was definitely _not_ dumb enough to go for that kind of run in the middle of the night in the middle of the fucking alien apocalypse.

 

He was even going to deal with that stupid creampuff Yahaba in order to stay safe.

 

“What are _you_ doing back here? I thought I told you, this spot’s _mine_.” Yahaba’s pompous voice and incredulous face greeted him as soon as he stepped across the threshold of the bakery’s missing front door.

 

“Why’re you still awake? Don’t you need beauty sleep or something?” Kentarou shot back.

 

Yahaba frowned and looked away, reaching up to adjust his stupid fluffy hair. If it were anyone else, Kentarou would have thought the expression on his face was almost nervous. But Yahaba was too stuck up to be nervous. After a moment, he replied, “...I was just going to bed. I’ll sleep in the kitchen. You can have the front room. I’m sure an animal like the Mad Dog can handle the draft from the missing door.”

 

Kentarou grunted in acknowledgement. Yahaba knew he hated that nickname. What an asshole.

 

“Don’t come back here,” Yahaba warned, gathering his backpack in his arms and stepping through the swinging door behind the counter. “I don’t want to be woken up by your snoring or your smelly dog.”

 

Kentarou glared at the swinging door as it closed behind the other boy. He didn’t snore. At least, he was pretty sure he didn’t.

 

\--

 

For the second time in less than twelve hours, Kentarou woke up to the sound of Kimi barking. He didn’t remember falling asleep, but he must have slept several hours. He felt surprisingly refreshed, and sunlight was trickling in through the bakery’s missing door and miraculously unbroken front window.

 

“Hey, sounds like there’s a dog in there - think it’s a stray?”

 

Kentarou bolted awake and rushed to shush Kimi at the sound of the unfamiliar, rough voice. He grabbed her collar and his backpack and scrambled awkwardly, trying to stay low and as out of site as possible, across the floor to the door leading back to the kitchen.

 

“Could be. Not many folk in this part of town, since the invasion,” came a second, female voice. Kentarou eased the door open enough to push the dog and his bag through, then followed as quietly as he could, trying to keep the door from swinging too much as he closed it. His heart was beating so frantically it felt like it was going to burst.

 

“Looks like that place is still pretty intact. Wonder if there’s any pastries left…” Came a third voice, also male, but louder and less gruff than the first. They must have been right outside the bakery shopfront, to be so clearly heard.

 

Yahaba was somehow still mostly asleep, curled up on a makeshift bed of aprons and hand towels, clutching his own backpack like a pillow. Kimi had immediately trotted over to him and began snuffling at his face, and he made little groaning noises as he ineffectually pawed at her to stop.

 

“Ah, but they’d be all stale. ‘Sides, the dog probably got ‘em, and it ain’t like they’ve got any nutritional value.”

 

“Might be somethin’ else of use, though. Let’s check it out.”

 

Kentarou crawled from the door to Yahaba and shook him. “Hey. Wake up. We have a problem.” He didn’t understand how anyone could sleep so soundly. “Yahaba, you ass. Come on.” He shook him again, and this time, Yahaba finally responded with more than a sleepy whine.

 

Except not at all how Kentarou was expecting. Before Kentarou could react, he found himself flipped onto his back, and Yahaba was scolding him that he was supposed to stay out of the kitchen and _his space_. He must have been used to horrible older siblings or something, because he was impressively good at wrestling while still half-asleep.

 

Kentarou could hear the strangers in the front room of the bakery, still arguing about stale pastries. “What the fuck. Yahaba, there’s -” he tried to push the other boy, who had managed to straddle him and pin him to the floor, but Yahaba just grabbed his wrists and pinned them over his head, bringing his face close enough to Kentarou’s that he could smell his morning breath. He didn’t really look it, but he was strong, and Kentarou could do nothing but wiggle ineffectually while he tried to get him to fucking listen because Kimi was barking again and any moment the people were going to decide to come back here -

 

The kitchen door slammed open and both boys froze.

 

Three strangers stared back at them, clearly not expecting to find two boys wrestling. The woman was petite with short blonde hair, and both men were tall and muscular, one with a shaved head and the other with several studs in both his ears and long, poorly bleached hair held back with a headband. Kimi barked once more, then trotted over to them and stuck her nose in Shaved Head’s crotch, wagging her tail.

 

He was probably about their age, wearing heavy boots, ripped cargo pants, a tight grey t-shirt, and an intimidating expression, which immediately relaxed into one of delight at the dog’s attention. Bad Bleach Job was wearing an orange hoodie, ripped jeans, flipflops. He wouldn’t have been that scary looking, except for his fierce glare and the baseball bat full of nails in his right hand. Next to him, the woman (Kentarou immediately named her Battlebabe in his head)  looked like just as much of a delinquent as Shaved Head, in her tank top, studded belt and boots with too many buckles. Kentarou’s heart nearly leapt out of his throat when she casually pulled _a_ _gun_ from the back of her jeans, and moved to point it at them.

 

“Uhhhh…” Yahaba’s eyes were wide, which Kentarou would have found hilarious combined with his sleep-tousled hair and generally shocked speechless expression, if it were in literally any other circumstance. “H-h-hi?”

 

Kentarou glared up at the three strangers from his position pinned underneath Yahaba’s hips and hands. He didn’t bother to say anything. They were so fucked. Stupid Yahaba had woken up wanting to fight him instead of _listen_ , because when did he ever? He was a stupid know-it-all, and now they were going to be murdered by bandits and his sister and father would never even know, if they were still alive to care.

 

“C-c-can we help you?” Yahaba was valiantly polite for the situation. Kentarou shifted his glare to him, since Yahaba was _still holding him down and that woman had a gun_.

 

“This dog yours?”

 

The boys blinked at her. “What?” Were they not going to just kill them immediately and steal all their (admittedly meager) supplies?

 

“Yeah, sorry about, uh… interruptin’ your makeout sesh. We just wanted to see if this place had any food, “ Shaved Head shrugged nonchalantly, and it was only then that Kentarou noticed he had his own baseball bat full of nails in the hand not petting _his_ dog. “And to see if this dog belonged to anybody, I guess.” Kimi was happily panting and leaning into her new friends. Traitor.

 

“She’s mine,” Kentarou said, at the same time Yahaba stammered, “What? No! We’re not - we aren’t - this wasn’t - ” while pulling himself quickly off of Kentarou and backing away, frantically running his hands through his hair. Kentarou sat up and rubbed his wrists, frowning in an attempt to stop the heat he could feel creeping up the back of his neck and into his ears as he realized what they must have looked like.

 

Bad Bleach Job was looking at them with a thoughtful expression. As soon as he started talking, Yahaba shut his mouth so fast his teeth clacked. “You two ‘re comin’ with us. Yer too young to be wanderin’ alone; it ain’t safe. You’re lucky it was us that found you. Not all folks ‘re as acceptin’.”

 

Shaved Head looked them up and down, scrunching his nose and snarling out of the left side of his mouth, “You sure about that, coach?”

 

“Two more mouths to feed isn’t somethin’ to sneeze at, but they look strong. We could use some more sets of eyes and hands.” Battlebabe gestured with the gun as she talked. Kentarou would feel _a lot_ safer about this whole situation if she would stop waving it around.

 

“You heard me. They’re comin’ with us. Can’t just let a couple a kids keep livin’ by themselves without any kinda safety systems. Now stop bickerin’ an’ introduce yerselves. I’m Ukai Keishin. You can call me coach, if ya want. ‘S what all th’ other kids do.” He moved to start rifling through the shelves of baking supplies, taking some things and packing them into a his large shoulder bag.

 

“Sorry, coach,” Battlebabe laughed before saying, “I’m Tanaka Saeko. Y’all can call me Saeko or Nee-san.” She grabbed Shaved Head in a headlock. “And this is my handsome baby brother, Ryuunosuke.”

 

The younger Tanaka frowned and swatted her away. “You two in high school?”

 

“I’m Yahaba Shigeru, first year at Aoba Johsai High.” He bowed, then nudged Kentarou in the ribs, hard, when he failed to immediately introduce himself.

 

“Kyoutani Kentarou,” Kentarou mumbled.

 

“Wow, your boyfriend sure is grumpy,” Ryuunosuke laughed. He went on before either of them could correct him. “Aoba Johsai, huh? That place is pretty swanky. And their sports teams are all, like, some of the best in the prefecture! But man, I do not envy you those uniforms. I hate ties, and that shirt-pants combo is hideous. Seriously though, did y’all eat all the pastries already or are there more of them in this place?”

 

“Found them!” His sister called from where she had joined Ukai in thoroughly searching the kitchen. Her gun was back in her pants, and she was holding a tray of dorayaki and had already stuffed one in her mouth. Ryuunosuke quickly rushed over and claimed several for himself.

 

Ukai immediately scolded them, ”Don’t eat all those. You’ll make yerselves sick. An’ save some for the others.”

 

Saeko stuck her tongue out at Ukai’s back, but then obediently started packing them away in her own bag. Her brother moved to start collecting and storing more of the kitchen’s pastries, his cheeks still stuffed with the sweet pancakes.

 

Yahaba and Kentarou exchanged confused glances. What the fuck. Who were these people? Why the hell did they think he and Yahaba were a couple? And why did they possibly think they would join them, wherever they were going?


	2. How to accidentally become part of a gang

By the time Ukai and the Tanakas were done raiding the bakery, Kentarou had learned three things. One: The three of them really thought he and Yahaba were a couple. For some reason this seemed like a point in their favor, although Kentarou still hadn’t figured out  _ why _ . Two: He and Yahaba were both apparently too chickenshit to correct them, since Saeko kept waving her gun around. Three: Tanaka Saeko knew next to nothing about gun safety. It remained to be seen whether she even knew how to use the fucking thing.

 

Kentarou was still trying to figure out how to leave in a way that wouldn’t involve upsetting the confusingly nice, terrifying people with the weapons. Kimi seemed to like them, and Yahaba was scared out of his mind and therefore being extra polite (and no help at all in getting away from them), making coming up with a plan even more difficult. All he wanted was to go find his sister and make it home to his dad. But now he had somehow been accidentally adopted by delinquents who thought he was Yahaba’s boyfriend. Gross. His luck was the shittiest.

 

Also, who saw two high school guys in a wrestling match, assumed they were making out, and then was okay with that? Kentarou glared at the younger Tanaka, then at his sister, who was packing baking ingredients into a bag with Ukai. They seemed to be almost done raiding the bakery, which meant soon they were going to want to leave. Thus far, he and Yahaba had just stayed out of the way, but they really needed a plan. 

 

He glanced sideways at his...friend. No. Nope. They were  _ not _ friends. Yahaba was a stuck-up ass who treated him like garbage. Companion? Also no. They just happened to know each other and end up in this bizarre situation together. Fake boyfriend. Gross, but it was the most accurate term he could come up with. That train of thought must have taken him a while, because now Yahaba was glaring back at him.

 

As if he were reading Kentarou’s thoughts, he muttered, “What are we going to do?” 

 

Kentarou glared harder. It wasn’t  _ his _ fault they were stuck in this mess.

 

“Fine,” Yahaba bit out. “I need to get across town. I assume you do too for whatever reason, and if these people can help, we’re going to let them.  _ Don’t mess this up _ .”

 

Before Kentarou could process what he meant by that, Yahaba had grabbed his hand and marched them over to stand in front of Ukai. Yahaba’s hand was cold, and he was gripping Kentarou’s hand so hard it was probably going to lose circulation pretty soon.

 

“Kyoutani and I are going north,” Yahaba’s voice only wavered a little. “I’m looking for my brother, and he’s - “ he paused and nudged Kentarou in the ribs.

 

“Lookin’ for my sister. Her class was on a fieldtrip when things went to shit,” Kentarou murmured. He didn’t want Yahaba to know that much about him, really, but these people seemed to value family.

 

He was pretty sure Yahaba started to glance at him in surprise (What a jerk. Of course he had a family and was a good older brother!) before catching himself and continuing, “If you are also going that way, we would be happy to come with you. We, uh, don’t have much supplies or anything to offer, though.”

 

“Kimi is a pretty good guard dog.” Kentarou added. At the sound of her name, his dog perked her ears and turned from watching Ryuunosuke wrap the last of the pastries, then went back to silent begging when it was clear Kentarou wasn’t calling her.

 

Saeko laughed and clapped them each on a shoulder. “Look at that, coach! Pretty soon you’ll have a whole team!”

 

“Yeah, yeah, very funny,” he waived at them. “Now help me get these last things packed so we can get outta here and meet back with the others before they cause too much trouble.”

 

It took only moments more, and then they were all loaded up and trooping out into the ruined street. Yahaba was still gripping Kentarou’s hand. Just as he’d predicted, it was going numb.

 

Ryuunosuke suddenly cocked his head, listening to something none of the rest of them could hear. “We’ve got company.”

 

A second later, Kentarou could make out a faint rumbling - getting louder - of some kind of vehicle. And then he could see it: a dirty white van with a cracked windshield, coming towards them from the direction Kentarou had come yesterday.

 

Almost immediately, Saeko and Ukai stepped in front of the boys, holding their weapons where the people in the van could seem them. Kentarou swallowed and clenched his free hand in Kimi’s fur. Yahaba fidgeted next to him. It didn’t seem possible, but somehow his grip on Kentarou’s hand got even tighter. “Don’t do anything stupid,” he growled at Kentarou.

 

“I’m not stupid.” Kentarou lowered his voice, “You’re the one who just basically lied to them.”

 

“I know what I’m doing. Just shut up and try to look less…” Yahaba looked Kentarou up and down, somehow conveying looking down his nose at him despite their very similar heights, “angry.”

 

Kentarou narrowed his eyes. He couldn’t help that he looked angry. He  _ was _ angry. This was a bullshit situation. He deserved to be angry.

 

Their new companions didn’t seem that concerned, but they all had their weapons out, in clear view of the van.

 

The van stopped about 10 meters down the street. Four men got out. They were all wearing suits and sunglasses, and they made no secret of their guns or the several missing finger joints between them.

 

Yakuza.

 

Kentarou swallowed again. Everyone in Japan knew that yakuza were often the first and best at responding to disasters. But that didn’t mean they weren’t still scary criminals. He was suddenly glad for Yahaba’s death grip on his hand, reminding him not to say or do anything impulsive and stupid. Stupid Yahaba, being right about him.

 

The men were walking towards them. Kimi’s ears were low, but she wasn’t growling. Yet.

 

And then Saeko was waving her gun at the men and shouting a greeting.

 

“What?” Yahaba whispered. 

 

Kentarou shrugged. It’s not like he knew anything Yahaba didn’t about these people. Apparently they were friends with yakuza now. Great. 

 

That was definitely Yahaba’s fault.

 

\------

 

It turned out that Ukai and the Tanaka siblings were not, in fact, yakuza. Just friends with yakuza, which Yahaba whispered to him was still dangerous, so don’t do anything stupid. 

 

Like lie to them? Kentarou wanted to point out again, but he settled for grunting his assent and steering them to stay close behind Ukai as he followed Saeko to talk to the strangers. He was uncomfortably aware of how sweaty he and Yahaba’s hands were getting. He was uncomfortably aware that they  _ were still holding hands _ .

 

This was like the plot of the post-apocalypse tween romance books Yukiko always wanted him to read out loud for bedtime, only the less-fun real life version.  Maybe he could write a true account of his experiences and make a small fortune when it got turned into the next big action movie. Literature had always been his favorite subject. He huffed a tiny laugh that not even Yahaba noticed. Yeah, right, he and every other dumb fuck with any kind of interest in literature stuck in this bullshit new world would be clambering for fame over the same dumb story. As soon as the aliens left and everything went back to normal. Like that would happen. 

 

And the movie would probably end with he and Yahaba falling in love. Gross. But Yukiko would squee and repeat over and over that she called it, she called it. He huffed another laugh, and this time Yahaba gave him a confused glance. He glared back. He wouldn’t be caught dead kissing that creampuff. He wasn’t his type  _ at all _ . It was bad enough they were holding hands.

 

As their companions talked to the men with the van, Kentarou learned that the yakuza men were assigned to this area by their bosses several days ago and had been driving around finding survivors and handing out supplies. As with all disasters, the yakuza were out in the streets, keeping the peace and making sure people were safe. Unlike the government, which tended toward immediate chaos and no action. Kentarou wasn’t even sure there still was a government. But apparently even aliens couldn’t stop a well-oiled mafia.

 

Their new friends had met them two days ago, and they had ended up camping overnight together in an abandoned house. The first night they met, Saeko had apparently managed to convince them to trade her the gun she was still waving around for a 10 kilogram bag of rice, two blankets, a small camp stove with an extra gas canister, and a popsicle. She seemed extra salty about the popsicle for some reason. 

 

Now, she and the man missing the pinky finger on his left hand did most of the talking. Ukai pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one, offering them to the strangers. Soon they were all puffing on their own cigarettes. Ryuunosuke stuck close by his sister, making intimidating faces whenever the men spent too long looking at Yahaba and Kentarou. Kimi kept by Kentarou’s side, and he dug his fingers into the fluff behind her ears as he listened to the adults talk.

After a few more pleasantries, the men got back in their truck and drove off. Ukai dropped the stub of his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it to put it out. “Well, that’s done then. C’mon. The rest a the kids ‘re probably wonderin’ where we are.”

 

\------

 

A nearly 3 hour walk (they had to re-route multiple blocks around areas that were too full of the stupid shuffling, snuffling aliens twice, plus navigate around several collapsed buildings blocking the road) found them standing in front of a 7-Eleven. The buildings on either side were mostly rubble, but the convenience store looked untouched. 

 

Kentarou’s stomach growled. He hadn’t eaten anything since the onigiri last night. Maybe this place would even have a cooler that stayed cool enough to keep meat. At the thought, his stomach growled again, louder.

 

“RYUUUUUUU!!!” A tiny figure with impressively spiked hair, except for a tuft of bleached bangs, burst out of the shop’s door and barreled toward them.

 

“Noyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Ryuunosuke shouted his own enthusiastic greeting. Kimi immediately picked up on the excitement and started jumping and barking, tail wagging fast.

 

“Oi! Shut it! We don’t need to advertise ourselves to every livin’ thing in Sendai!” Ukai scolded.

 

“Bro, you will not believe the day we had!” Ryuunosuke was quieter, but still very loud. “We found this bakery and they still had so many pastries! I had forgotten how amazing dorayaki is, isn’t that tragic?” 

 

“Dude, what? Where’s my share?”

 

“Well Sae and I woulda ate all of ‘em, but Ukai made us save some for you guys. You better be grateful!”

 

Ukai led them all into the 7-Eleven. Tanaka and Bleached Bangs continued to bicker while following them inside. As they stepped through the door, they were greeted by a chorus of “Coach! Tanaka! You’re back!”  

 

“Oh, and also!” Ryuunosuke continued, butting his way through to stand in front of Ukai, “we found these guys and their dog and adopted them into the family.” He gestured at Yahaba and Kentarou. 

 

Bleached Bangs fell silent and stared at them, as if he had just noticed their presence. “Holy shit,” he stage-whispered. “Does this mean I finally get to be  _ a senpai _ ?”

 

\------

 

There were eight of them, altogether, not counting Kentarou and Yahaba. Ukai and Saeko were the oldest, but Sawamura Daichi was the one everyone respected most. He reminded Kentarou of a less angry, more polite Iwaizumi. 

 

Ryuunosuke and Noya (Nishinoya Yuu, Bleached Bangs said his name was, but they should call him Noya) were the loudest. They were even louder when Yahaba politely called them senpai. And they very clearly had a thing for the one other girl in their party. Kentarou would too, if he liked girls that way; Shimizu Kiyoko was beautiful, with her long dark hair and beauty mark and quiet demeanor. 

 

Azumane Asahi was the most terrifying looking of them all, but turned out to be really quiet, which Kentarou appreciated. He almost felt bad for how much the others made fun of him, but Azumane seemed to agree with them, even though he looked like a guy you wouldn’t want to mess with.

 

And finally there was Sugawara Koushi, who, while clearly trying to be nice, immediately reminded Kentarou of Oikawa. That annoying senpai was the whole reason he had quit high school volleyball, even though he loved it and his dad had even occasionally been willing to leave the house to go to his games. Sugawara was just too clearly interested in everyone else’s business. He and Yahaba were also immediately buddy-buddy, just like how Yahaba was always sucking up to their upperclassmen at Aoba Johsai. It was one of his more annoying traits.

 

Only now it was worse than at school, because of course Tanaka immediately launched into the story of how he had found them making out in the bakery and wasn’t it so romantic that they were still together in spite of everything? Kentarou wanted to gag at how sincerely delighted everyone was at the revelation that they were  _ together _ . Gag and hit Yahaba in his smug face for going along with this horrible misunderstanding. Stupid Yahaba was all smiles and friendliness. Kentarou gritted his teeth and hoped he would at least get lunch soon.

 

The 7-Eleven did not have chicken, but they did have menchikatsu-pan, which was almost as good. As soon as the introductions had been made and everyone had scarfed down a sandwich, Sawamura had them all gathering and packing food and supplies from the shop. Kentarou and, mercifully, not Yahaba but Shimizu, were tasked with collecting useful non-food items. He dutifully looked through the meager collection of maps to find the best local one and then sorted bandages into fewer boxes while she examined all the little bottles of pills and creams. She didn’t try to talk with him, and he wasn’t a big talker, so they worked in silence, listening to the rest of the group loudly describe all of the food and potentially useful things they were finding. Soon they had two bulging plastic bags of items Shimizu deemed useful enough to keep.

 

Noya and the younger Tanaka were half-collecting, half-devouring candies, while Azumane fretted about them getting the wrappers everywhere. Saeko had only a slightly more reasonable number of sweets in her own mouth and hands.

 

“Put those back! They’re just sugar. It's not good for ya!” Ukai scowled at them while he stuffed as many cigarette boxes as he could fit in his bag and pockets.

 

Azumane shrank in on himself, but Saeko just made a face at his back, then defiantly pushed a bag of lollipops into her own backpack before dumping the rest of the candy she was holding back on the shelf. Noya and her brother reluctantly followed suit.

 

Yahaba had been helping Sawamura and Sugawara sort the food and supplies as the others piled up their offerings. He and Sugawara were already joking together, and Kentarou could tell he was still wearing his stupidly superficial polite mask.

 

Kentarou was kind of pissed at himself for how unprepared he had been on his own. All he had in his own backpack were a couple of water bottles, some clean boxers, his middle school volleyball jacket, a bag of chicken-flavored dog treats, and some of Yukiko’s clothes. He glared at the growing pile of supplies by the cash register. No wonder people thought he was dumb; he hadn’t even thought to bring a map or a few protein bars.

 

He was also irrationally mad at Yahaba for being even more unprepared than he was. And for making a big deal of it to their new group of yakuza friends. The moron didn’t even have an extra water bottle. He shook his head to clear the thought. The stupid creampuff should not have been messing with his head this much. Maybe the beef on his sandwich hadn’t been as safe to eat as he had thought. He turned back to the non-food shelves. Maybe he could find something to read to escape this bullshit.

 

They ended up with ten roughly equal piles, one for each person in the party. Kentarou’s pile had the band-aids he had gathered, three loaves of bread, several sports drinks, four cans of soup, and a flashlight. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to fit it all in his bag. After three unsuccessful attempts, he was frustrated enough to try just smashing the last loaf of bread to make it fit, earning twin glares and rebukes from Yahaba and Sawamura for his trouble. There was no need for Yahaba to look so pleased with himself. Of course,  _ he _ had also given himself the smallest pile and had no trouble packing everything. It would be easy to fit if you didn’t have any of your own supplies.

 

“Put the bread in a plastic bag and tie it to the strap, see?” Noya saved Kentarou, showing off his own jury-rigged bags. 

 

“Thanks,” Kentarou muttered, grumpy he hadn’t thought of that himself.

 

“Happy to help, because I am the Best Senpai!”

 

“Don’t give him a bigger head than he already has; that was Asahi’s idea,” Sugawara called from his spot next to the shy giant. Azumane smiled sheepishly, then quickly looked away.

 

\------

 

Sawamura clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Alright, everyone, this shop’s a prime target for other groups, so now that we’re restocked, let’s get to Asahi’s house before sundown so we can make dinner without flashlights. Weapons out, new kids in the center.” Kentarou had thought Ukai would be in charge, but he seemed happy to step back and let Sawamura do the leading.

 

Everyone but he and Yahaba had some kind of weapon. How was that fair? Saeko was the only one with a gun, but they were still a terrifying group. He felt naked and exposed in a way he hadn’t felt when he was alone. He wondered if he could teach Kimi to growl or attack on command. He clenched his hands into fists and dutifully stayed in the center of the group, next to Yahaba. 

 

Sugawara patted him on the back with his hand not holding a steak knife and grinned, “Don’t worry, we’ve got your back!” Kentarou’s frown deepened, but Sugawara just smiled more.

 

They had only been walking for a few minutes when they encountered another group. Five people were walking towards them, smiling, with no weapons in sight. Like their own group, the strangers were carrying bags of supplies, except for one woman, who had a baby in a sling on her back and another in her arms. 

 

“Hello, friends! How are you surviving in this time of undoing?” The man who spoke was perhaps fifty, and obviously their leader. While the others were dressed in normal clothing, he was wearing...lights? No, Kentarou realized, he had EL wire sewn into his clothes like those people who dressed up as anime characters. That was...weird, but Kentarou had been wearing the same track pants and ratty t-shirt for a week now, so he couldn’t really judge.

 

Despite the stranger’s friendly greeting, everyone around them stiffened. Kentarou glanced at Yahaba, who shook his head and shrugged. He didn’t know who these people were either.

 

“Do you need any supplies?” The man continued, seemingly oblivious to their group’s discomfort.

 

“Thank you, no.” Sawamura’s reply was polite but curt. A clear dismissal. 

 

The stranger didn’t appear to get the message. “Ah, I see you’ve gained a few new faces since we last crossed paths! Would they perhaps like to join us for our picnic? We’re always looking to spread the word of the Undoers, after all.” He smiled in a way that didn’t quite reach his eyes. The others in his party smiled, too, but stayed silent.

 

“No. We’re not int’rested,” Ukai stepped protectively in front of Kentarou and Yahaba. Kentarou couldn’t say he minded. These people seemed  _ off  _ somehow, even though they had done nothing but offer help.

 

“Let them speak for themselves. Boys, would you - “

 

“They’re not interested in your fucked up cult,” Saeko interrupted, stepping forward and raising her gun. “Get outta here before I show you undoing!”

 

The EL wire man’s smile turned icy and his followers glared at them. “The Undoers have come to cleanse the earth! Only the worthy survive their touch and hear their song. If you do not listen, you will not survive this new world.” His expression changed to one of pity.

 

“Yeah, yeah. The aliens are cosmic beings, come to show us the truth. We got your message, now leave us alone!” Saeko waved the gun at them, and her brother raised his bat. Kentarou worried they might actually get into a fight, but then the man with the weird light outfit and his companions turned and walked away without another word.

 

“Yeah, you better run!” Noya called after them.

 

“Shhh, Nishinoya, we don’t want them to come back,” Azumane wrung his hands, looking worried. “C’mon, my neighborhood’s this way.”

 

\------

 

Azumane’s house was in a neighborhood that had hardly been touched by the destruction. Inside, it was small and slightly shabby, but clean and full of photographs of a smiling couple that must have been his parents, with a child hiding behind the woman’s legs in most of them. Kentarou frowned at the photos, thinking of his own family. He hoped his dad wasn’t too worried. He wondered where Azumane’s parents were, and then wished he hadn’t thought about it. It was too easy to move from others’ families to thinking of what could happen to his own dad and sister.

 

There was no running water or electricity, but Ukai, Saeko, Shimizu, and Azumane somehow managed to make a huge stack of okonomiyaki while everyone else argued over sleeping arrangements and took turns playing tug-of-war with Kimi and a sock she had managed to find almost as soon as they stepped inside. Asahi just sighed when he saw her holding it. “Those were old anyway. Just don’t let her chew any pillows.”

 

They sat in a circle in the living room and ate the savory pancakes with their hands, licking the otafuku off their fingers. While they ate, Azumane explained (for Yahaba and Kentarou’s benefit; everyone else clearly already knew) that his parents had been on a trip to Hokkaido when the aliens had come. They were celebrating their twentieth wedding anniversary and had saved up for months for the trip. It was the first time they had left him home alone for any length of time, and he wanted to make sure they could find him when they made it back to Sendai. He had only left to find his friends yesterday, after learning from Sugawara via text about their encounter with the yakuza. They could stay here, if they wanted, but he understood they were trying to find their own families… his explanation trailed off awkwardly, but Nishinoya was quick to fill in the silence with his own story about how his apartment building had been destroyed on the first day of the invasion, so he was staying with Asahi, even though he really wanted to go help Daichi find his kid brother…

 

When Ukai was satisfied that they’d all eaten enough, he went to smoke on the back porch. The girls got first dibs on the one bathroom, leaving the boys to eagerly dig through Azumane’s closet for clean clothes to borrow. Everything was too big, but Kentarou chose a soft worn t-shirt anyway. This way he could sleep in something clean, at least.

 

When Kentarou’s turn for the bathroom came, he carefully washed his face, hair, and armpits. It was awkward and difficult using a water bottle instead of the showerhead, but he was slow and methodical and managed to get the worst of the dirt and smell off. When he was clean(er), he put on the soft shirt and sat on the floor. He sat in the quiet, feeling himself relax, then pulled out his phone to text his dad. Fifty three percent battery.

 

>> safe. wth some frendly people. had okonomiyaki for dinner

 

He waited a moment, then sent a second text.

 

>> how’s home?

 

He held his breath until the indicator that said his dad was typing appeared, then breathed a happy sigh of relief.

 

<< glad you found friends. the neighbors came over. we made omurice and fixed the generator. love you.

 

>> love you too. i’ll be back with Yukiko soon, promis

 

\------

 

The 7-Eleven hadn’t had anything to read other than the crappy yaoi all the girls at school giggled over and some cooking magazines. But it had had several varieties of blank notebooks and packs of pens. Kentarou turned the little blue lined notebook he had chosen over and over in his hands. 

 

No one was paying any attention to him. Saeko and Shimizu had retreated to Azumane’s parents’ room. Ukai was smoking outside. The rest of the group was snoring in a pile or quietly doing their own thing on phones or paper. Yahaba was in the bathroom, had been in the bathroom for ages. Preening, probably. Worrying about that zit on his forehead like it was the end of the world. Next to him, Kimi occasionally twitched and yipped in her sleep. 

 

This was a dumb idea.

 

He had never written anything other than school assignments in his life, and he never got even better than average on essays.

 

But Yukiko would be  _ thrilled _ . He could see it now; her big brown eyes would light up and she would bounce around him, begging him to read it to her,  _ pretty please neesan _ ,  _ you read so good I bet you write good too! _ He smiled. She wouldn’t care if it didn’t have great grammar or whatever.

 

He opened the notebook to the first page. The blank page glared at him, daring him to think he was good enough to write anything, much less an actual story. He glared back.

 

_ Surviving an Alien Invasion _ , he wrote as neatly as he could. No, that was boring and dumb. He thought a moment, then added  _ A Guide to  _ on top of it. Better. Not great, but not the worst. With the title down, it was easier to start writing. 

 

He had two full pages and was starting on the third when Yahaba came back, still fiddling with his stupid fluffy hair. He snapped the notebook shut before his stupid fake boyfriend could have the chance to stick his big stupid head in Kentarou’s business and make judgemental comments. 

 

“I don’t care about your dumb journal,” Yahaba sniffed.

 

“Good. I’m going to sleep,” Kentarou replied. He adjusted himself so he was laying next to Kimi, his backpack as his pillow, notebook safely tucked away, and pointedly turned his back to Yahaba. There weren’t enough futons or pillows for everyone, but at least he had a blanket. Yahaba made sure to leave as much space as possible between them in the cramped room as he made his own makeshift bed and went to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The yakuza being the first to respond to disasters is a [real thing](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yakuza-idUSTRE72O6TF20110325)
> 
> Also [EL wire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroluminescent_wire) is really neat. I don’t know how common it is in Japan (or if Kentarou would know what it is), but I couldn’t resist the idea of a cult that worships light-up aliens using it.


End file.
